Traditional K-52
Professional Upright
Introduced in 1903, this piano features a larger soundboard than many grands, for a more resonant voice. The choice for professional players seeking an upright instrument — and perfect for all sizes of homes and apartments.
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Unlike other manufacturers that mass-produce their uprights, Steinway & Sons uprights are handcrafted in the same factory as our grand pianos, using the same techniques, conditioning processes, and craftsmen. The result is the world’s finest upright, living up to the Steinway & Sons name in every respect. Our upright pianos take advantage of over 125 patented features and processes, including our patented Diaphragmatic soundboard, Accelerated Action and Hexagrip pinblock.
“I love how the Steinway responds to a variety of attacks from the supple caress to the rambunctious pound. Steinway’s flexibility keeps me stretching my boundaries further and further.”
Jason Moran
Steinway
Dimensions
Height 52" (132 cm)
Width 60 3/4" (154 cm)
Depth 26 3/8" (67 cm)
Net Weight 600 lbs (272 kg)
Rim
Back Frame: Solid birch mortised foot-piece. Solid birch soundboard lining. Grand-type maple laminated closing rim; unequaled vertical strength and stability.
Braces
Posts: 5 full-length tapered solid spruce braces with a volume of 3,600 cu. in. (58,993cm3): assures that backframe will remain straight, promoting stable and consistent tuning. Strategically positioned with bottom ends tenoned into birch foot-piece for positive vertical alignment. Spruce fill-blocks between posts at top of backframe capped with solid birch backing board for positive horizontal alignment.
Ribs
Made from durable, resinous sugar pine to assure strong and constant support of string down-bearing on the soundboard. Rib ends are hand-fitted into their mounting surfaces virtually locking in the important soundboard crown.
Scale
Overstrung; twenty-six note bass/tenor break. Treble duplex. Tension: 37,500 lbs. (16,875 kg)
Plate
Sturdy gray iron; filled, CNC-milled, and sealed; bronzed and lacquered.
Tuning Pins
Premium blued steel with rust-resistant, nickeled heads.
Strings
Treble: Ten whole & one-half sizes from high-tensile Swedish steel. Bass: Swedish steel core wire wound with pure copper. Longest, pressure bar/bridge: 46 3/8" (118 cm)
Hammers
Premium wool top felt over premium wool under felt; treated to resist insects and moisture. Compression-wired to retain permanent shape. Hornbeam hammer moldings and shanks.
Dampers
Vertical-cut premium wool for effective dampening. Hornbeam heads for endurance.
Action
White, quarter-sawn hornbeam parts are bushed with specially treated wool action cloth for freedom from friction. Parts are anchored in hard maple rails. Dependable, Direct-Blow design permits ALL parts of the action to lie above the brass capstan screws.
Keys
European spruce, individually weighed-off. Chip-proof, stain-resistant coverings for naturals; slip-proof, delicately abraded ebonized sharps. Tough, durable Linden wood buttons reinforce keys over balance rail permitting maximum tonal power with every strike. Longest: 16 1/8" (40.9 cm)
Keybed
Made from planks of stable, quarter-sawn poplar. Horizontal planks are freely mortised together, while their ends are permanently mortised into vertical planks made of birch, presenting a vented system for humidity escapement while allowing for necessary expansion and contraction. Hand-milled to be flat and true correlating with keyframe for snug fit. Strong, rugged construction provides a solid mount for keyframe and action allowing for precise and prolonged action regulation. Thickness: 1 3/4" (4.45 cm)
Pedals
Heavy, solid brass. Soft, sustaining, and full sostenuto.
Soundboard
Created like the soundboard of violins to give a free and even response throughout the entire scale, the Traditional K-52's soundboard is so constructed as to be 8 mm thick in the center and tapered to 5 mm as it approaches the rim and outer case before being double crowned. This design permits complete freedom of movement, while acting as a homogenous unit to displace a greater amount of air, thereby creating a richer and more lasting tonal response. Close-grained, quarter-sawn Sitka spruce, a wood having unusual stability and vibrance under stress and vibration, is used exclusively for the soundboard.
Bridges
Treble: Hard rock maple vertical laminations capped with solid hard rock maple; planed to prescribed height, graphite coated, drilled, and notched by hand for precise individual string bearing. Design defies splitting. Bass: Rock maple base cantilevered at angle for maximum resistance to string pressure. Maple doweled, glued and screwed to soundboard.
Pinblock
Hexagrip patented design; 7 laminations of quartered hardrock maple stock. Grain symmetrically distributed at successive angles of 45°, 90°, employing grain direction uniformly around the circumference of the tuning pin to provide the ultimate in pin grippage. As a result of this exclusive design, the tuning pin has smoother movement under torque, a more uniform retaining action for solid setting, and a piano will hold its tuning longer.
Furniture
Ebonized or Crown Jewel Collection Veneer
Panel Stock
Quarter-sawn poplar corewood cross banded and face veneered.
Solids
Ebonized or veneered birch, mahogany, walnut.
Legs
Ebonized mahogany, genuine specie.
Finish
Heavy full-bodied black or clear lacquer (satin), hand-rubbed.
Hardware
Solid brass; polished & lacquered, or chrome or nickel plated.
